


you should be in bed

by trackfive



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Caretaking, Caring Louis, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fever, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I dont know what to tag, M/M, Pet Names, Sick Character, Sick Harry, Sickfic, Stubborn Harry Styles, havent posted in 5 years so my tagging skills are just gone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28232199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trackfive/pseuds/trackfive
Summary: By the end of the week he had secluded himself to a corner of the room, preferring to work on his own. He would sit hunched over, hair in his face, sniffling over stacks of papers with a pen in hand, singing under his breath, and pointedly ignoring the packet of cough sweets that Mitch slipped onto his pile as he passed by, a travel pack of tissues “dropped” outside the booth by Sarah, and any other little odds and ends that materialized around him. Everyone could see the exhaustion cloaking him, but he pressed on as if nothing was wrong (and if Harry slipped the sweets into his pocket an hour later…it was nobody’s business).harry was definitely not coming down with something. louis has an endless amount of patience, comforting words, and love to give, even at 3 a.m.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 74





	you should be in bed

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first time i've posted anything since...2015 i think? haven't been motivated to write anything good for the last few years, but i forgot how nice it is to have an outlet to distract me from university work that's actually productive! but yeah like i literally haven't shared any of my writing in half a decade so i'm v nervous but here we are <3<3

It was around 3 a.m. when Louis blinked himself awake. Waking suddenly from a nightmare wasn't uncommon for him, but tonight there was no cold sweat or heavy breathing. Confused and still half-asleep, he reached his arm out to the side, and was met with nothing but a bunched-up bedsheet. He pushed up onto his elbows and a crease formed between his eyebrows. Not only was his boy missing, but a pillow and the knit throw were gone. The nightstand hosted a sizable pile of used tissues that certainly hadn't been there a few hours ago. Louis grabbed his glasses and padded out of the bedroom. He grew worried when he found the bathroom vacant, but the faint buzzing of their television led him to a scene that made his heart skip a beat.

He was met with Harry’s sleeping figure curled up on the living room couch, lit by the screen asking if he was still watching whichever show had lulled him to sleep. The missing blanket was wrapped around him and the pillow held his messy curls, all splayed out and tangled. His chapped lips were parted and his breaths were crackly and audible. The couch was far too small for a man of his size, so his long legs were bent, knees practically at his chest.

Harry spent the beginning of the week with a barely-there rasp in his voice and scattered coughs but brushed it off, blaming it on the temperature change. Louis knew how hard his boyfriend had worked in the studio lately. The stress of putting together a debut solo album was clearly weighing on him; the normally even-tempered Harry he knew seemed drained and irritable, often snapping at small things. When Louis asked about his cough and got a grumbled ‘hayfever, Lou’, he knew better than to push it.

The stubborn young man spent much of the week hard at work, acting as though nothing was off. The first few sessions went about as usual: writing, laughing with Mitch as they fiddled around with melodies, clearing his throat subtly every now and then. By the end of the week he had secluded himself to a corner of the room, preferring to work on his own. He would sit hunched over, hair in his face, sniffling over stacks of papers with a pen in hand, singing under his breath, and pointedly ignoring the packet of cough sweets that Mitch slipped onto his pile as he passed by, a travel pack of tissues “dropped” outside the booth by Sarah, and any other little odds and ends that materialized around him. Everyone could see the exhaustion cloaking him, but he pressed on as if nothing was wrong (and if Harry slipped the sweets into his pocket an hour later…it was nobody’s business).

Louis’ heart broke - it’s not as if he didn’t see this coming, but he was sure that Harry wasn’t nearly this ill when they kissed goodnight just a few hours ago. If Louis wasn’t awake before, he certainly was now. He knelt in front of the couch, hand reaching to push back damp hair, revealing the flushed cheeks and fevered forehead beneath. Harry snuffled into his pillow but didn’t seem to wake. A kiss pressed to his forehead was enough to stir him from sleep, rousing with a few small coughs.

“What happened, love? Why you all bunched up out here?” Louis murmured, stroking Harry’s rosy cheek with the backs of his fingers and giving him a small smile.

“Won’t ge-“ he cut himself off with a shallow, jagged breath and turned his face into the pillow to sneeze twice. “get you ill out ‘ere”, he finished, voice gravelly.

Louis cooed and slid his hand up to scratch lightly at the side of Harry’s head.

“You should be in bed, darling.” he said, twirling a stray curl around his finger.

“C-Can’t. Don’t wa-,“ Harry cut himself off again, body wracked with coughs that seemed to take up his whole chest. Louis moved to unravel him from his blanket, settling himself by Harry’s side. Their proximity confirmed his suspicion - he could feel Harry radiating fever heat even before they touched. He reached under the sweat-soaked shirt to rub circles into his spasming back until he transitioned to shallow breaths. Louis pulled his hand out from the damp shirt and instead took hold of the larger, shaky one in front of him.

“Hazza, _baby_ , I need you to take a breath. Calm yourself down a bit, yeah?” Louis kept his voice light for Harry’s sake, though he was starting to get anxious himself, and placed his other hand onto the back of Harry’s overheated neck. “I promise there’s nothin’ to worry about, love, but if you’re this worked up about it I can kip on the sofa. Give you the nice soft bed, hm? I bet that would feel much better. Stretch those legs out a bit.”

At this, Harry just whined, head hanging down and breaths coming in even shakier than before as tears slid down his cheeks. Heart officially shattered, Louis maneuvered himself off of the sofa and onto the floor. He squatted in front of Harry, hands resting on the too-warm pajama-clad thighs.

“Let’s go back up to bed, love. Get you a fresh shirt, look for something to help that nasty little cough before we tuck in all nice and warm, yeah? Just let me help you, angel, please,” Louis gently turned the tear-streaked face in his direction. Not until now had he taken in how truly ill Harry looked - his eyes were glassy and fever-bright, face far too pale apart from his pink cheeks and raw nose.

“Jus’…‘m all hot, Lou,” he slurred out before lifting his fist and turning slightly away in a feeble attempt to cover a fit of sneezes. They tumbled out of him, sending visible shivers up his spine. That seemed to have sapped the last of his energy and Louis knew he needed to get the poor boy back under the covers whether he liked it or not.

“Oh, baby. C’mere Haz, you’re shivering up a storm. Up we go, there’s a good lad.” Louis took advantage of Harry’s post-sneeze daze to scoop the younger man into his arms before he could protest.

Once he placed Harry’s limp body on the bed, propping him up with some pillows, Louis bustled around the room, intermittent coughs and sniffles being the only indicator that the boy was still awake. Armed with his supplies, Louis tended to a very drowsy, very sniffly Harry, singing softly to him all the while. He raked the pillow-mussed long hair back into a bun as best he could hoping it would cool him down and held a tissue up to his nose so that Harry could clear himself out a bit before planting a kiss each on his forehead, cheeks, and the tip of his nose, which earned the older boy a sleepy scrunch.

Louis finally climbed into bed and got situated, the human furnace practically glued to his side. With the blankets tucked around him and a hand scratching lightly at his scalp, Harry began to drop off, burrowing his face deeper into his boyfriend. Louis knew that Harry was asleep when the nose pressed against his neck had sniffled itself into silence. Pulling Harry in even closer, Louis kissed the top of his head and murmured into his hair.

“Feel better soon, darling.”

His only response was the warm, steady puffs of breath on his collarbone.


End file.
